Phobias

What a terrible disappointment and utter fiasco. This is one of those movies that you can tell had competent people involved (cinematography, music, editing, and some of the cast) but who somehow were infected by a deranged lunacy that led them to believe they were doing something worthwhile. This nothing of the sort. This is a completely incoherent mess without a shred of a plot, much less a script. Macy Gray is one of these people. I will avoid her in the future.

It is not so much about 5 dangerous patients escaping as it's about 5 people experiencing dangerous situations. Once I got pass the misleading plot summary, it wasn't a bad movie. Some of the anthologies could have used better conclusions but I was interested in what happened. Filming was good, actors were good. I think it deserves more than a 3.6. Normal I wouldn't have given it a chance with that low of a rating but I started watching it before I looked it up.

I don't know who this film might appeal to.

It's shares DNA with Creepshow and shows no real improvement on that film, despite decades separating them. Some of the cinematography is ok (particularly in the first section) but that is no reason to watch it,

Acting is poor to bad, script is generally poor, stories are poorly developed and don't connect. There is no phobia in any of the stories (in case that's what you wanted). It's rare for me to have nothing good to say about a film.

I write this review for those who, like me, are struggling to find something to watch in 2021 and feel this might be worth a try. It's not. Best avoided.

Split into five sections, with a central narrative tying them together, this film feels a tad disjointed. Each section has a separate director... and each is named after a specific phobia. "Robophobia" & "Hoplophobia" are the two best sections. The others leave room for improvement. Camilla Belle, makes her directorial debut with the latter of those two... and she shows assured cinematic control and storytelling. Other than that, this is really worth skipping.

I had no idea this was an anthology and was disappointed when I found out. The reason for that is that the opening Asian-American storyline is pretty decent, but then it suddenly finishes unfinished and we move onto increasingly less elaborate and engaging tales. Most dwell on predictable violence and shock scares, and the wraparound story goes nowhere either.